Life's Punctuation

Last night we shared a Turkish meal amidst a fascinating circle of friends.

I met two unique women, each of whom is an oncologist.

As they described their professional relationship of mutual respect and dependence, I commented that it seems as if

one is the period to the other's sentence.

Later as I recounted the lovely evening, I contemplated the simple idea of punctuation.

Who, for example, are the exclamation points in our lives?

Who spurs our spirits to the greater heights of joy, excitement, passion, anger?

Who is the question mark to challenge an idea,

or cause us to reexamine ourselves and embrace new insights?

Are there some who remind us of fresh possibilities around the bend,

as in the sweet pause of parentheses.

And are there semicolons who stop us for a moment then move us forward,

or the colons who just give a simple list.

What of the friends who speak into our lives and impart strength with their voices, they are the quotation marks.

The ellipsis to keep us wondering...

And the beloved comas, saying: take a moment, breath deeply, and stop running so fast.

Yet the most precious of all must be the apostrophe, symbolizing to whom we belong.